At a time when internal bickering has come to the fore in the State BJP, former Deputy Chief Minister K.S. Eshwarappa has blamed the Congress leaders, who shifted to the BJP, as the reason for the unwelcome developments in the party.
Addressing presspersons along with Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi in Hubballi on Monday, Mr. Eshwarappa said that the BJP had suffered for welcoming Congress leaders into the party.
Mr. Eshwarappa termed ‘Operation Lotus’ as the cause of defeat for the BJP, expressing his displeasure over the entry of Congress leaders into the party, which ultimately resulted in the BJP coming to power with the fall of the JD(S)-Congress coalition government.
The BJP leader said the party had suffered because of the indiscipline that had surfaced. On the talk of adjustment politics by BJP leaders, Mr. Eshwarappa said it was unfortunate that such issues were being openly discussed, which otherwise should have been discussed within the four walls. He said he had made an appeal to the party president to take the issue seriously.
Meanwhile, speaking to presspersons in Hubballi, Minister for Large and Medium Industries M.B. Patil declined to comment on Mr. Eshwarappa’s comments on the Congress leaders who were now with the BJP.
However, Labour Minister Santosh Lad took strong exception to the statement and sought to know where was the discipline of the BJP when it hijacked the Congress leaders and shifted them to resorts in Maharashtra and Goa. He said the truth was that the leaders were good when they were with the Congress but were spoilt after going to the BJP.
